Oliver, Rey win at NCAA wrestling, Lehigh has five in championship bracket

Jordan Oliver fired up his orange-clad fans from Oklahoma State with a first-period pin of Kent State’s Tyler Small. Oliver scored a takedown on a shrug right off the bat, allowed Small to escape, then took him down the same way. He subjected Small to three sets of tilts before recording the pin. “It was awesome to get out there and be back home in Philadelphia for my first match at the NCAA championships,” said Oliver, a red-shirt sophomore from Easton and the No. 1 seed at 133. “To be back home and wrestle for my first national title, it means everything …I’m definitely a man on a mission.”

East Stroudsburg's Gary Kessel

refereed the match during the opening round at the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships taking place at the Wells Fargo Center today through Saturday. Oliver is facing Levi Mele of Northwestern in Thursday night’s second round of action. Lehigh’s Zach Rey, the top seed at 285, used a workmanlike effort to score a pair of takedowns and easily lockup a 6-1 decision over Parker Burns of Campbell. Rey was wrestling at the same time as 184-pounder Robert Hamlin, and when Hamlin finished, 197-pounder Joe Kennedy was on the mats. Hamlin, Lehigh’s No. 2 seed at 184, had no problem cruising to an 11-1 major decision over Missouri’s Mike Larson, who punched Hamlin in the mouth at the start of the third period. Kennedy scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds to make the difference in his 3-1 decision over Tyler Dickenson of Michigan State. Lehigh advances five wrestlers into Thursday night’s second round action. Freshman Austin Meys, the No. 11 seed at 174, lost in the opening round, however, but Lehigh got that back somewhat when Joey Napoli knocked off No. 11 seed Andrew Nadhir of Northwestern at 149. Lehigh’s Frank Cagnina (133) and Stephen Dutton (141) both lost their opening bouts, but Lehigh got a change in fortune when the unseeded Napoli pinned Nadhir from the neutral position in a third-period scramble at 6:00. “We needed that one,” Lehigh coach Pat Santoro said. “We got three seeded wrestlers right off the bat.” “I just scrambled and came out on top,” the soft-spoken Napoli said. “He was in pretty deep [on a shot] and I wasn’t going to give up the takedown. It felt pretty good to win, but it’s only going to get harder from here. It’s always hard.” Brandon Hatchett scored a 6-4 decision over John-Martin Cannon of Buffalo at 165 to earn a Thursday night date with No. 2 seed Andrew Howe of Wisconsin. Hatchett held a 5-2 lead and riding time and looked to be coasting to victory until Cannon hit a takedown with a minute to go to make it close and eliminate the riding time. Penn’s Zack Kemmerer, a junior from Upper Perkiomen, proved he was worth a No. 12 seed. He scored three takedowns and never gave one up in a 7-5 win over Jon Kohler of Maryland. He said he didn’t even hear the loud burst of cheers he got when his hand was raised. “I’m just trying to isolate myself,” he said. “I don’t want to be around the crowd or my friends, just my coaches so I can concentrate on what needs to be done.” Kemmerer is facing No. 5 seed Montell Mario onf Iowa in Thursday night’s second round action, Marion defeated Lehigh’s Stephen Dutton 8-3 in the opening round. NOT SO FORTUNATE: Lehigh lost one of its three seeded wrestlers from the championship bracket when No. 11 seed Austin Meys dropped a 13-5 major to unseeded Curran Jacobs of Michigan State. Meys never even scored a takedown. Lehigh’s Frank Cagnina had a great start, taking down No. 6 seed Tony Ramos of Iowa in the opening minute, but gave up a second period takedown as Ramos ties the score. The Hawkeye took the lead with an escape in the final period, then clinched the 6-3 lead with a takedown off a desperation scramble to send Lehigh’s unseeded true freshman into the consolation bracket for yet another pigtail match. Lehigh 141-pounder Stephen Dutton also found national a rough go for true freshmen, losing to No. 5 seed Montel Marion of Iowa, and Nazareth’s Mike Greck, a senior atr Millersville, is facing Hicks Mason of Cornell in a consy pigtail after losing to Virginia Tech’s Chris Diaz 6-0 in the opening round. Kyle John, the Bethlehem Catholic graduate now at Maryland, did not have a favorable draw, either. He lost to American’s firecracker Steve Fittery, the No. 2 seed at 157 by technical fall. John meets Barrett Abel of Cal Poly in the consys. Hofstra’s Ben Clymer, a junior from Northwestern Lehigh, gave Northern Iowa’s Ryan Loder a scare at 184. Clymer shocked Loder, the No. 6 seed, with a rugged third-period scramble where both wrestlers almost scored twice. Clymer came out on top, but the referee ruled the pair out of bounds. In overtime, Clymer escaped, but Loder took him down for a 3-2 lead. Clymer cut Loder loose to start the final overtime but could not land a scoring shot.